This news service contains Japan-related HR news that matter in a nutshell. Guaranteed less than 50 words linked back to its original news source. Great for busy HR pros like you!

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's workforce in 2040 is projected to drop 20 percent from 2017 due to overall population declines if the economy sees no growth and women and the elderly continue to have difficulty landing jobs, a government study showed Tuesday.

The employment rate in Japan stood at 60.4%, up 1.4% from the same period last year. The number of employed persons in November was 67.09 million, an increase of 1.57 million or 2.4% when compared to the same period last year. The labour force participation rate was 61.9%, an increase of 1.3% compared to last year.

The Japanese government has pushed through a new immigration policy which will cover workers from China, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, to take effect in April. The new policy will provide visas for blue collar foreign workers with skills in 14 industrial sectors, intended to address the nation’s considerable talent crunch.

The government has decided to toughen regulations for the employment of disabled workers after ministries and agencies were found to have inflated their employment figures to meet legal quotas, sources close to the matter said Sunday.

The government came up with a 126-point policy package aimed at facilitating the daily lives of foreigners who may not be used to Japanese culture and customs, earmarking 22.4 billion yen through the current and next fiscal year starting April.

TOKYO -- The Japanese government will encourage foreign workers coming in under a new visa program to spread out into outlying areas rather than congregate in the largest cities, according to a proposed policy package shown to a ruling party committee Monday.

TOKYO -- Japanese workers took the fewest paid holidays among 19 countries and regions, and only half the time off to which they are entitled, according to an annual survey published Monday by online travel agency Expedia Japan.